Sixteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

As the impacts of climate change are presently and alarmingly obvious, eco-activism through design visualizes concepts and incites change. Armed with the powerful tools of visual communication, urgent responsibility rests on the shoulders of designers to prioritize critical messages through clear and inspiring messages for the public. Design can serve as the conduit between science and society, abstraction and clarity, and singular work and collaborative systemic effort. My teaching, research and practice over the past 17 years has explored various communication design strategies—humanistic appeals to reconnect oneself with nature, disturbing statistics meant to instigate response, logical calls to action, aesthetic presentation of biophilia, visualization through concrete poetry, community mapping in partnership with an ecological organization, making through green processes and foraged materials, etc. The body of work varies in method, message, and material—yet maintains the commonality of environmental principles and goals of resilience. Design thinking and creative problem solving can and should aid humankind’s response to the climate crisis. Presenting this arc of environmentally focused creative research aspires to demonstrate benefits and impact, while instigating future cross disciplinary collaboration and cooperation. As an eco-activist designer, I hope to contribute to (and sway) the ongoing dialog of environmental urgency that is often met with inaction.